


Made of Love

by what_a_gust



Series: ffd au [2]
Category: Women's Soccer RPF
Genre: F/F, Pregnancy, child birth
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-15
Updated: 2019-10-15
Packaged: 2020-12-16 23:39:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,484
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21044687
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/what_a_gust/pseuds/what_a_gust
Summary: Tobin and Christen have a baby.





	Made of Love

**Author's Note:**

> A prequel to Family Footy Day and a fill for a couple of tumblr prompts.

In retrospect, Christen realizes that moving in the middle of her third trimester probably wasn’t the smartest idea. If she had known what being pregnant was going to feel like, she probably would have insisted that they buy a house before even starting IVF. But she didn’t. So here they are, on a rainy Sunday morning, hoping that the movers don’t scuff the freshly painted walls and that their bed will be set up in time for a good night’s sleep.

//

The house is perfect. It’s exactly where they wanted - a few minutes walk from the best elementary school in the area - and has a big backyard that opens into the woods. There’s a creek along one side of their property which they’re hoping will help with drainage rather than lead to flooding. There’s a patio right off the kitchen which will make it easy to entertain with enough room left over after they set up their outdoor furniture for a grill and a fire pit.

The house has four bedrooms which feels a little bit presumptuous, maybe even excessive, especially considering that they’re only having one kid (for now) and there’s already a designated office space on the ground floor for Christen and a workshop at the back of the garage for Tobin. But the selling point that they couldn’t bring themselves to turn down (aside from the school district and the backyard) was the master suite. The room itself is huge and the closet is practically the size of their entire bedroom in their Portland apartment. Not to mention that the bathroom has a shower with a steam setting and a giant jacuzzi tub. It was a little pricey but considering it checked all of their boxes, didn’t require any renovations, and was ready for move-in before the baby was expected, they put an offer down as soon as they left the open house.

//

Christen leans back against the kitchen counter as the movers bring in box after box. She’s grateful that Tobin’s protective nature won out over her frugality which meant that she didn’t really need to do much convincing to hire professional movers. So, while there isn’t any heavy lifting for her to do (not that she would try and risk hurting herself or the baby), she’s still nervous about managing all of the unpacking that she’ll have to help with to ensure that everything is in its place and not just randomly strewn about the house.

As the boxes pile up around the kitchen and on the living room floor, Christen thinks back over their last week in their apartment; most of it had been spent packing. They were both rather surprised by the sheer amount of stuff they had acquired over the seven or so years they had lived there. Each night, they would get home and make themselves fill at least two boxes and occasionally bribe their friends to come help with pizza, beer, or both. It dawns on Christen that unpacking is probably going to take much, much longer.

//

She was right (of course). It takes them almost three weeks to put everything away and to really feel like the house is theirs. By then, Christen’s due date is fast approaching and she’s finding it harder and harder to get herself out of the house. Luckily for her, Tobin is as doting as ever.

When Tobin gets home from her carpentry gig on Monday, Christen is sitting on the floor with her legs in a v out in front of her trying to put their laundry away without having to bend over. Before she even says hello, Tobin grabs the basket and shoves it to the side so she can pull Christen up and sit her on the bed.

“I can put that stuff away, babe - you did the laundry so let me do this,” Tobin puts on her best smile in an effort to Christen into forgetting to protest.

An as much as she wants to preserve her dignity and insist on finishing the chores herself, Christen is tired and her back aches and making that worse just to prove a point won’t do anybody any good so she lets it go, “Thank you, honey. How was your day?”

Tobin leans over to give her a kiss before bending down to grab the laundry basket so she can put away the rest of its contents. “It was really good, actually. I started working on a cherry dining set that I’m excited about. I’ll get to practice my decorative dowels which is something I haven’t done a lot of but I’m optimistic that it’ll turn out well. Plus the client is super dope, like really chill and just wants me to be creative so Dave isn’t even really supervising the project and it just feels like I’m really starting to find my groove.” Tobin stuffs their socks into the drawer and then turns to face Christen who is now laying on her side with her leg hooked over the maternity pillow that’s resting under her belly. “What about you and Baby H? How was your day? Get up to anything fun?”

//

They decided as soon as the pregnancy took that they didn’t want to know the sex of the baby - partially because it didn’t really matter to them and partially because they liked that it meant their friends and family couldn’t bother them with silly sex-based birthing superstitions. The only thing they knew for sure about their child was that their first name was going to start with an H. They wanted to pay homage to Cody and Press family tradition and it helped to have such a narrow scope. Both of them made a list of five names they really liked and then they narrowed it down to two from each together. 

//

Christen lets out a breathy laugh, “There’s not much time to do anything fun between all the peeing and drinking and peeing and drinking but we did laundry and listened to some music and I caught up with Tyler while I was eating lunch. So, overall, I guess it was fine. Better now that you’re home.”

Tobin smiles lovingly at Christen as she gets up from the floor to put the last few pieces of clothing back in the closet, “How’s Ty doing?”

“She’s fine, work is busy as ever but she said she’s really happy that as partner she’ll have a bit more control over her schedule, which is nice. Hopefully she’ll be able to come visit after the baby is born,” Christen yawns as Tobin crawls into bed behind her and nuzzles into the back of her neck.

She wraps her arms loosely around Christen’s belly, “As much as I’d love for us to lay here and nap, I don’t want you having trouble sleeping tonight so I think we should probably head downstairs for dinner?”

Christen nods but makes no moves to get actually up. Tobin sighs into the back of her neck, “C’mon, I’ll help you up.” She sits up and pulls Christen up gently so that she’s sitting too. “Do we want leftovers or are you in the mood for something else?”

When Christen says, “Leftovers are fine,” as she pushes herself off the bed, it’s clear that she doesn’t really mean it.

“Are you telling me that you really don’t want me to make you my world famous Thai peanut zoodles so you can have leftovers? Chris, I’m heartbroken, truly,” Tobin plays up the drama until they’re both clutching the railing of the staircase in laughter.

While Tobin’s zoodles aren’t necessarily world famous, they are really good. So when Tobin poses the same question the following evening, Christen is much more open to the idea of leftovers.

//

The days pass pretty slowly for the most part. Christen isn’t on bed-rest per se but with her due date fast approaching she knows that she needs to take it easy so she spends a lot of time on her computer shopping around for stuff for the nursery. Technically, they’re planning on waiting until after the baby is born to officially start decorating since the bassinet will be in their room for the first year anyway. However, that knowledge doesn’t stop her from getting excited about all of the options that are right at her fingertips from the comfort of her bed or the living room couch. 

One evening, a few weeks later, when Tobin gets home from work, Christen has almost 20 tabs open of things she wants to buy.

Tobin plops down on the couch next to her and she tries to hide what she’s clearly spent all day doing but Tobin sees right through her. “I actually have a surprise for you, something I’ve been working on. And I think you’re gonna like it. Will you come out to the shop with me?”

Christen sets her computer down on the coffee table and then follows Tobin out to the garage. She had known that Tobin spent a lot of time out there but she figured that it was to get things organized, not that she was already working on something. 

She shuffles past the storage units that line the back of the garage and around the corner into the shop where Tobin is waiting for her with her hand on a sheet that’s draped over what Christen guesses is a large piece of wood.

“Ready?” Tobin asks, bouncing on her toes in excitement and before Christen can even finish nodding, Tobin is pulling the sheet off.

Christen’s jaw drops and tears well in her eyes as she looks back and forth between Tobin and the crib, “Oh my god, Tobin, it’s beautiful.”

“So you like it? It’s not too much? I mean, we don’t have to use it if you don’t want. Like we can—“

Christen cuts her off with a searing kiss, “Tobin, did you not hear me say that it’s beautiful? I absolutely love it. You really did this? It’s, it’s amazing, really.”

“Yeah, I just feel like since you’ve been carrying Baby H for almost nine months, I wanted to do something, like make a contribution or whatever,” Tobin, feeling bashful, stares down at her feet as her cheeks redden.

“Of course, sweetie, I understand,” Christen murmurs as she swipes her thumb gently over Tobin’s cheek, “but I also want you to know that I feel like you’re taking really good care of me and the baby. So I totally support you building the furniture for the nursery but I don’t want you thinking that you have to.”

At that, Tobin’s face lights up, “That’s all I want to do, Chris. Take care of you guys, I mean. Would it, like do you think it would be okay if I built the rest of the stuff for the room though? Like a dresser and a bookshelf and stuff?”

“Definitely more than okay,” Christen winks.

//

Christen wakes up one morning, a week and a half or so later, and knows labor is coming.

When her water breaks, she’s sitting outside on the patio trying to read as she breaths through the low intensity contractions. She had a feeling it was coming and even though it’s uncomfortable, knowing that she’s still so in tune with her body is pretty satisfying.

She trudges upstairs to change her clothes and then calls Tobin, glad that they’d packed her hospital bag earlier in the week.

“Hi baby. You okay?”

“Yup, all good, but it’s time.” Christen breathes out through another short contraction.

“Time for what?” Tobin asks, clearly confused with her attention torn between work and her wife.

“The baby, Tobin. Time for me to have the baby.” Christen can hear it dawn on Tobin as soon as she says it.

“Oh. Oh! Oh my god! The baby! I’m, I’m on my way, just hold on. Give me 20 minutes? Can you hold it that long? Oh my god.”

Christen can’t help but laugh because she knows that Tobin knows better even though that doesn’t come through in the moment, “Jesus, Tobin. Calm down. It’s not like I’m crowning or anything. My water just broke. Drive home safely and I’ll see you soon. I have my bag ready, I’m gonna call my mom, everything’s gonna be fine.”

//

Christen is right. (Again.) Everything is fine. It’s her first child so labor takes a while and it’s pretty painful but once the epidural sets in everything is goes pretty much according to plan.

Tobin alternates between squeezing her hand and pacing around the delivery room, wanting both to be there for her wife and see the baby as soon as it’s born.

Their parents hang out in the Labor & Delivery waiting room and their siblings have their phones on standby for the moment Baby H arrives.

But 8 hours later, Tobin cuts the umbilical cord and then, in way that feels but sudden and inevitable, they have a happy and healthy baby girl laying on Christen’s bare chest and crying her first breaths into the world.

“Hallie,” Tobin breathes.

Christen tears her eyes away from the baby on her chest to look at Tobin, “What?”

“Her name is Hallie.”

Christen looks back down at the baby, “Hallie Elizabeth Heath. Beautiful.”

//

Hallie is a beautiful and happy baby. And they feel so, so lucky. But that really doesn’t make getting woken up in the middle of the night any easier. They knew it was coming. All of the baby books said so.

But doing a feeding at 11pm and then again at 2am and then again between 4 and 5 is exhausting.

Christen really tries to go with the flow but it’s hard. She doesn’t feel like herself and she knows that three weeks isn’t nearly enough time for her body to recover but it’s harder for her to accept her limits when the baby isn’t inside of her anymore.

Tobin is great though. Having Hallie around seems to have increased her enthusiasm and she’s more doting than ever. Even when Hallie wakes both of them up, she forces Christen to go back to sleep as soon as possible, offering to do all the diaper changes and burping. And every morning, no matter what, she has a fresh pot of coffee waiting for Christen when she gets downstairs.

“T, you really don’t have to keep doing this for me every morning. I can make coffee for you sometimes,” Christen yawns over the steaming mug.

Tobin meanders around the kitchen island with Hallie perched on her chest, “I know, but I want to.”

They’re exhausted. Really, truly exhausted. But also in love. With each other. With their life. With their baby. So, at the end of the day, the exhaustion is definitely worth it.

Christen kisses Tobin’s cheek and then Hallie’s itty-bitty nose and then Tobin’s lips.

Exhaustion has never felt so good.


End file.
